Today, machines (also referred to herein as “assets”) are ubiquitous in many industries. From locomotives that transfer cargo across countries to farming equipment that harvest crops, assets play an important role in everyday life. Depending on the role that an asset serves, its complexity, and cost, may vary. For instance, some assets include multiple subsystems that must operate in harmony for the asset to function properly (e.g., an engine, transmission, etc.).
Because of the increasing role that assets play, it is also becoming increasingly desirable to manage and maintain assets in operation. Unexpected failures of any given subsystem of an asset can have negative consequences such as disruptions in schedules and increased costs to take countermeasures. However, managing and maintaining assets efficiently can be both time-consuming and expensive as well. Some have periodically conducted diagnostic examinations, such as load tests, at a repair shop to ensure that a given asset can perform as intended under certain load conditions.
For example, the current approach to load testing generally involves removing an asset from the field and bringing it into a repair shop (or the like), having a human technician at the repair shop connect the asset to diagnostic tools and measure the operation of the asset while subjecting it to certain simulated load conditions, and then having the human technician at the repair shop review and evaluate the resulting measurements to determine whether the asset has passed or failed the load test. This type of load test is often referred to as an “inbound load test.”
Once the asset has been brought into the repair shop, a human technician may then perform various other tests and/or repairs on the asset before sending the asset back out into the field. Once these tests and/or repairs have been completed and the asset is ready to be released from the shop, a second load test may be conducted before it leaves the repair shop to verify that the asset will operate as intended under certain load conditions. This type of load test is often referred to as an “outbound load test.”